After all, UFC Fight Night 25 competitor Alan Belcher (17-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) was saying all the right things. The eye injury? A thing of the past. Lingering concerns? No way.

But in truth, Belcher admits there were a lot of question marks in his head. Was he really back to 100 percent? Did he still belong among the elite in the UFC’s 185-pound division? All that was answered on Saturday night.

“Even up until [the fight], I was kind of uncertain of what I wanted to do,” Belcher said following his win over Jason MacDonald, which aired on Spike TV from New Orleans’
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. “I gave my all in this training camp and everything, but I was nervous as hell going into this fight, coming back. I missed the feeling, and I feel like I can definitely continue down the path I was on, trying to go for a title shot. I think that’s what I’m going to do now.”

Belcher, of course, was competing for the first time in more than 16 months thanks to an eye injury that required a pair of surgeries to repair.

Prior to the fight, Belcher insisted that he was 100 percent, both physically and mentally, but his post-fight admissions would seem to suggest otherwise. Still, Belcher said he couldn’t have asked for a more supportive atmosphere in his return to fight than New Orleans – just 90 miles from his home in Biloxi, Miss.

“It felt great,” Belcher told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “The crowd definitely gave some energy. There were hundreds of people there screaming and cheering. That support – not only tonight but for the last few months, the last year – the fans have been awesome, but my close community and friends that have been there and saw what I’ve been through every day, week in and week out going to the doctor, (have been wonderful too).

“For the first several months, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to come back. There were no answers, and it was just messing my mind up. The people that were there for me the whole time, they’re the ones that really helped me keep it together and helped me decide to come back and everything.”

And Belcher didn’t exactly squeak by in his return to the octagon. Quite the opposite, in fact. Belcher swarmed his opponent from the opening bell, and he dominated the crafty grappling veteran on the floor while pounding MacDonald until he verbally submitted.

“When you’re on top in an MMA fight, it’s the easiest thing in the world,” Belcher said. “I’ve got to figure out how to get there more often. I’ve been playing around with it, working on my punches and elbows and stuff like that. It was fun working that kind of stuff.

“He was super strong. I could tell he had good hips. His legs were high. He was wrapping me up. I felt like I was in a straitjacket there for a minute. But I kept pushing, and he started getting tired. The sweat started coming. So as soon as I got up, I knew I was going to be able to finish.”

Belcher is now 5-1 in his past six fights, and the lone loss came in a hotly contested UFC 100 bout with Yoshihiro Akiyama. (With) another key win or two, Belcher could be in the 185-pound title picture, especially considering current champion Anderson Silva has decimated the rest of the division and is constantly in search of fresh challenges.

For Belcher, who was previously comfortable talking about his ranking and the potential for big fights in both the 185- and 205-pound divisions, there is no rush to book his title shot. It’s coming, Belcher believes. He just needs to be patient and remain focused on the prize.

“I think before I had the injury, I was in such a hurry to try and get a bunch of wins and get to the top and everything,” Belcher said. “Through this whole experience, it just taught me to be a lot more patient. I think now that I’m a lot more patient.

“My new mindset, I think it’s going to come a lot faster now. I’ve got a feeling that the title shot is going to come faster than I want it to now, so I’m not really worried about it now.”

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